Second-Year Retention Study Of Players Drafted In Fifth-Round From 2009-2012

On Tuesday, we had a look at the first-year cut rates of all players drafted in the fifth-round dating back to 2009. Surprisingly, that research showed that only 15.2% of the 178 players drafted in that round during that span were outright waived prior to the start of their rookie season. I have now taken that research one step further.

Today, we will look at how many of those same fifth-round picks stuck in some capacity in year number two with the team that originally drafted them. In other words, did they spend time on either the 53 man roster or injured reserve during their second season.

This research only includes years 2009-2012, as the second-year fates of the players drafted in the fifth-round last year has yet to be decided.

Of the 143 players drafted in the fifth-round between 2009-2012, 88 of them (61.5%) either spent some time on the 53 man roster or injured reserve list of the team that drafted them during their second year in the league.

Being as 82.5% of those same 143 players managed to survive being waived in some capacity as rookies, you can see that only 30 players (21%) were waived outright after their rookie season. In addition, there were six players that were waived initially (prior to week 1) as rookies that made it all the way back to the 53 man roster of the team that originally drafted them.